Ohio governor John Kasich, who is is 64-years old, traveled a lot when he campaigned for the Republican Presidential nomination, and on those many airline flights he listened to “Stressed Out” by Twenty One Pilots, a bona fide top tier Top 40/Alternative band from his home state.
I don’t think most early Boomers (aka Zoomers) listen to this duo, so either I’m really out of it, and Kasich is incredibly in, or he knows Twenty One Pilots because they are Ohio locals, and he’s supporting the home team.
Either way, what’s important is that their newest song–“Ride”– is just the kind of song that made Boomers so attached to their music back in the day; it’s meaningful, it sounds good, it’s “of the moment;” the kind of song that people who define who’s in and who’s out, and what’s cool and what isn’t, know about.
We like music because of how it makes us feel, and also because it connects us to the zeitgeist. The “deciders” have selected “Ride” to be one of this summer’s designated hits–it will reach millions of people, most of them younger than 50.
Boomers want to remain relevant—and to do that we need to fully understand a world in which we are no longer the center of attention nor the economic tsunami we once were. New music, one of the mainstays of pop culture, is a way to “stay connected” to the world at large—it’s like an energy shot, a reminder of the niche that only new, current, cream of the crop music can transmit, and how great it is to have as a part of one’s life.
I raved about Twenty One Pilots in an earlier Boomer Music Update post https://boomermusicupdate.com/alternative/should-i-stay-or-should-i-go-redux/, and their current release, “Ride,” is proof that they are not a one hit wonder. It reached #1 on the “Alternative” chart and is now ready for a long summer run on Top 40 radio –in fact, its popularity grows quicker with each passing day.
All that gushing aside, what’s summer without those special summery songs? The pop/reggae highlights in “Ride” give off that summertime vibe, much like “Sweat. (A la la la la Long)” did in the summer of 1993, when Jamaican group Inner Circle sang this feel good sing a long track.